For a long while, I felt like life was mostly endings. Deaths and sicknesses and hearts broken. My mother diagnosed with cancer in the same stroke as a relationship ended. Everything felt heavy. My words were heavy. My limbs moved less easily. A veil was drawn between my eyes and the light outside. I couldn’t find many beginnings. The tide had ebbed way, way out.
But then, three months after my mom died, there was a beginning: A birth. My friend Gabby was giving birth to her first child, and had asked me to be there with her. Little Izzy sky rocketed into our lives on a tide of human force so intense the only feat I could compare it to was my mother’s dying process.
But before Izzy made it out, there was the labor. Gabby sweated and moaned and, within the first five minutes of my arrival, she had already peed and thrown up on me. I took great comfort in knowing that this white-knuckled manifestation of the human condition would deliver another person into the world, rather than taking one away. But I couldn’t help but note the similarities in pain, struggle, breath seeking, gasping for, relief.
And then there was a human. A living, breathing, crying, beautiful human. Punching the air. Writhing in the exquisite pleasure of separation and arrival: Gravity. Air. Earth. Breath. Cold. Mother separate from baby. So much to learn, so quickly.
In Izzy’s beginning, though, I started to find my own way back to life once again. It took me many years, as, like him, my grief was still in its infancy. I still had to grow up through it, learn who I was as a human with this new cloak of death hanging at my back. But being with Izzy, experiencing the joy of a little being discovering the world, that made all the difference.
Which brings me to today, here, with these glorious tart cherry, chocolate and hempseed no-bake oat bars from Alanna Taylor-Tobin’s miraculously beautiful book Alternative Baker, made to celebrate the very-soon-arrival of Lindsey Love’s baby boy.
Both of these women gave birth to extraordinary cookbooks this year, and I thought it only fitting to honor Lindsey with the easiest and most delectable vegan, gluten, and dairy free (no-bake, no less) treat in Alternative Baker. Truth be told, I want to make absolutely everything in the book—Alanna’s flavor combinations sing to me, her photographs make me weak in the knees, and her knowledge of alternative flours is endlessly inspiring. This book is a treasure (order it now!).
Fitting, then, to honor the woman whose recipes and photographs teach me, make me drool, and expand my understanding of flavor, texture, and light on a daily basis: Lindsey Love is a true culinary phenom. When I first started blogging seriously, Dolly & Oatmeal was one of the first sites I turned to as a model. The grace of Lindsey’s work was stunning in its beauty and simplicity. So you can imagine the gasp I took when I found myself sitting with an email from her in my inbox one day, a friendly hello to welcome me to the proverbial block. She told me she was a fan of K&C, and I took another, protracted gasp. Needless to say, I gushed inappropriately much in reply, and we became fast friends.
I wish these bars could be delivered in person, Lindsey, to steel you for the triathlon of womanly strength that is childbirth. Instead, I send you these images, and this achingly beautiful song / benediction by a man named Fred Small. It came into my life at the naming ceremony of another sweet babe whose birth I had the honor of being a part this year. For your new little Love:
Everything Possible
by Fred Small
We have cleared off the table, the leftovers saved,
Washed the dishes and put them away
I have told you a story and tucked you in tight
At the end of your knockabout day
As the moon sets it’s sails to carry you to sleep
Over the midnight sea
I will sing you a song no one sang to me
May it keep you good company.
You can be anybody you want to be,
You can love whomever you will
You can travel any country where your heart leads
And know I will love you still
You can live by yourself, you can gather friends around,
You can choose one special one
And the only measure of your words and your deeds
Will be the love you leave behind when you’re gone.
There are girls who grow up strong and bold
There are boys quiet and kind
Some race on ahead, some follow behind
Some go in their own way and time
Some women love women, some men love men
Some raise children, some never do
You can dream all the day never reaching the end
Of everything possible for you.
Don’t be rattled by names, by taunts, by games
But seek out spirits true
If you give your friends the best part of yourself
They will give the same back to you.
You can be anybody you want to be,
You can love whomever you will
You can travel any country where your heart leads
And know I will love you still
You can live by yourself, you can gather friends around,
You can choose one special one
And the only measure of your words and your deeds
Will be the love you leave behind when you’re gone.
Don’t forget to scroll all the way down to see all the treats everyone else brought to today’s #WelcomeNewLittleLove virtual baby shower.
—
Sweet Potato Millet Pancakes from The Full Helping
Butternut Squash French Toast from Edible Perspective
Miso Edamame Hummus with Baked Furikake Sweet Potato Chips from Fix Feast Flair
Roasted Green Tomato Soup with Herbed Oil + Garlic Cream from With Food + Love
Maitake Steaks with Cauliflower Purée from O&O Eats
Cucumber & Chamoe Melon Salad from Two Red Bowls
The Magic of a Mandolin: Vegetable Carpaccio from Eat Boutique
Mushroom and Kale Tacos from Brooklyn Supper
Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwiches with Honey Olive Oil Ice Cream from Cake Over Steak
Dark Chocolate Hummus from A Couple Cooks
Strawberry Rhubarb Jam from The Sugar Hit
Mini Hazelnut Donuts from I am a Food Blog
Almond Chia Pudding with Roasted Grapes from Tending the Table
TART CHERRY, CHOCOLATE & HEMPSEED NO-BAKE OAT BARS FROM ALTERNATIVE BAKER.
Ingredients
Bars
- 1 cup (235 ml) smooth unsalted almond butter (preferably at room temperature, stirred if separated)
- ½ cup (120 ml) maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 ½ cups(225g) GF old-fashioned rolled oats
- ½ cup (55g) unblanched sliced almonds
- ½ cup (70g) dried tart cherries (or cranberries)
- ¼ cup (30g) hulled hempseeds
- ¼ cup (30g) cacao nibs
topping
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) extra-virgin coconut oil
- ¾ cup (130 g) chopped bittersweet chocolate
- flaky sea salt such as Maldon cacao nibs and hempseeds, for sprinkling
Instructions
- To make the bars, in a large bowl, whisk together the almond butter, maple syrup, vanilla and salt until smooth. Set aside.
- Place the oats in a wide, heavy-bottomed skillet set over low heat and toast until golden and fragrant, 8-12 minutes, stirring frequently. Pour the warm oats into the bowl with the almond butter mixture. Wipe out the skillet and add the almonds, toasting over low heat and stirring frequently until golden and fragrant, 4-6 minutes. Add the almonds to the bowl with the oats, then add the dried cherries, hempseed and cacao nibs. Use a flexible spatula to fold the mixture until well combined. Let sit until cool enough handle, 5-10 minutes.
- Line an 8-inch (20-csquare pan with a sling of parchment paper, leaving an overhang on each side to use as handles. Scrape in the oat mixture and use damp hands to pack the mixture firmly into an even layer.
- To make the topping, place the coconut oil and chocolate in a small saucepan and set it over the lowest possible heat, stirring constantly with a heatproof silicone spatula until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Pour the melted chocolate over the bars, and tilt the pan gently to coat it in an even layer; there will be just enough. Sprinkle the top with a few small pinches of flaky sea salt and several large pinches of cacao nibs and hempseeds. Chill the bars until firm, at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.
- Loosen the edges of the bar with a small, offset spatula or the tip of a knife, and use the parchment handles to lift it up and out of the pan and onto a cutting board. Use a large, sharp chef’s knife to cut 16 squares.
- Store the bars airtight in the refrigerator; they will soften if left at room temperature. They are crispest on the day of making but will keep well for up to 5 days.
